


Yesteryear

by Ardoria, Rigoria



Series: Fate's Destiny [1]
Category: League of Legends
Genre: Bilgewater - Freeform, Burning tides, Captains, Cards, Gamble, M/M, MF doesn't like Gangplank, Magic, Pirates, Pirateship, Pre-Betrayal, Tango, TwistedGraves, i don't like eve, magic stuff, partners, thorned rose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-11-18 20:23:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11298174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardoria/pseuds/Ardoria, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rigoria/pseuds/Rigoria
Summary: When Tobias finally awoke, the room was lighted way too bright for his taste, his head was aching and his throad was dry. Furthermore he had no clue where the fuck he was."So ye 're finally back alive?"Tobias eyes wandered to the person, speaking to him. The man had dark hair held back by a red bandana. His clothes had some greenish color. "I know you", he mumbled before he closed his eyes again and rubbed them. When he opened his eyes again he got a better look of the room. It definitely was an inn-room according to the furniture, but he couldn't tell what inn he was in. Probably an inn somewhere near Demacia."It's been a long time...", the man said. "But you haven't changed that much.""Neither have you", Tobias said while standing up. He poured himself a glass of water from a jar placed on the table. He downed it instantly. That headache was killing him. "But surely you remember my promise too?""That's why I asked you 'bout a game of cards yesterday."





	1. Places of the Past

**Author's Note:**

> English isn't my native language^^

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please check out "Graves' Fate" by Ardoria. It tells this story from Graves POV but with some different events.

He had no intention in staying here longer than he had to. Bilgewater was a dirty place smelling like rotten fish and the blood and innards of sea-serpents getting slaughtered in this area of the islands. It was a warm night making the stench even worse.

  
The man was hiding deep in the shadows of the wooden walls of a ware house. He was waiting there for several hours by now, waiting for the right moment. He knew how to keep himself occupied. A single card was dancing and twirling between his fingers in a fluent movement. It comes as easy as it was the most natural thing in the world to do. And it was in some way… He was trained in cards since his early childhood and therefore it became his second nature.

  
Suddenly the card stopped between his thumb and index finger. Footsteps were audible and they were getting closer. Seconds later a group of Hooks passed his hiding place without noticing his presence. It was almost too easy!

  
After all he was about to rob the mightiest and most dangerous man in Bilgewater, the pirate king himself. Gangplank. The generous payment was worth the risks. The only barrier between him and said fortune were these bloodthirsty Hooks, being loyal to Gangplank since he claimed the position as the king of Bilgewater. They actually might be capable of defeating him in a fair fight, but it definitely wasn’t his intention to fight them. Furthermore he wasn’t quite into this fairness thing and stuff. The only thing he should be worrying about right now was getting caught. When Gangplank would get the chance to lay his hands on the thief, a slow death would be his reward.

  
Finally he heard the return of the Hooks. He had supervised them long enough to know that he would have around five minutes before the next patrol would return. It was time, this was his starting signal.

  
He took his time to adjust his golden brimmed hat. Being in this rat hole was no reason for not looking as flawless as he usually did. It surely didn’t matter to him in what a bad state this region was. Soon he would be far, far away, his pockets filled with gold.

  
The man stepped out of his hiding place and into the alley on the opposite street-side carefully avoiding all puddles that were hopefully just mud-filled. This alley would lead him straight to the docks and to Gangplank’s ware house, to his destination. His long, black coat was whistling behind him when he quickly moved further into the alley way.

  
Suddenly he heard the Hooks return. Way too early… Now he had only seconds left. The thief flipped a card out of his sleeve into his hand and instantly started to twirl it between his fingers. He felt the familiar pressure building up within the back of his head.

  
In the blink of an eye he wasn’t standing in that alley any more but in a storehouse filled to the rim with foreign treasures, gold, gemstones and everything valuable someone could possibly imagine.

  
_Damn, I’m good!_

  
A smug grin built on his face when he inspected his environment more careful in the dim light. He saw paintings which might come from Freljord, sculptures propably produced in Ionia, weapons most likely forged in Demacia and Noxus, high-tech stuff from Piltover and he could see some yordle-sized objects as well. Actually he found treasures from all around Runeterra.

  
Luckily he was well informed by his employer. He found the chest straight away. The cap creaked silently when he opened the tiny but exquisitely decorated box. In the box was an ornamented dagger laying on a crimson, silken underground.

  
The thief was about to take the dagger out of it’s depository when he heard a very well known, alarming sound right behind him. He froze in his movement.

  
CHH-CHUNK

  
Next he heard was a deep, well known voice: “TF, it’s been a long time.”


	2. 25 Years ago

The wooden planks were creaking above Tobias head every time a drunken pirate walked over the deck. Then the hatch was opened again and some grim pirates stored some more chests and barrels on the other side of the storeroom.

  
Tobias was safe in his hiding-place behind the barrels filled with water or rum. Soon the pirates left again without noticing him.

  
_So far, so good._

  
According to his information the ship would set sail soon and would leave the harbor of Bilgewater. The ships destination was Piltover where new high-tech weapons should be bought. Anyways they would stop at several harbors of the east coast . His plan was to leave this ship as soon as possible so that he wouldn’t be discovered as a stowaway because the store room was too empty to hide.

  
He leaned against the wooden wall of the ship and waited.

~~~

  
It took another hour until they finally set sail. At least Tobias thought so. In the dim light under the deck he soon had lost his feeling for time. By now they had to be on the open sea. He could hear the water clashing against the wood and felt how the ship was dancing in the waves like a playing ball of the tides.

  
The hatch was only opened once in this time by the ship’s cook coming for some provisions. It was completely silent again by now.

  
He wanted to hoard some food so he wouldn’t have to step out of his hiding-place that often. Of course Tobias had to hurry up. He mustn’t be discovered, especially not while stealing their food…

  
Quickly but silently he climbed over the barrels and out of his hiding-place. Then he froze in his movement. There was another one down here taking some food and his expression showed the same amount of shock as Tobias was feeling himself. Some apples fell down from the boy’s arms and rolled over to Tobias, who picked them up. The other one didn’t seem to be a pirate either. Two stowaways on one ship? These where some really lucky pirates!

  
“Apple?”, asked Tobias ironically when he was throwing the apple back. The other boy struggled to catch it but managed and gave away an unamused expression. “Ok, due to the fact that we will be together in this store-room for several days: Are you up for a game of cards?”

  
The boy hesitated but then he finally agreed and followed Tobias into his hiding-place behind the barrels.

  
When he started to shuffle the cards he took his time to eye up the other boy. He was around the same age. A red bandana was holding his dark, messy hair back and he was wearing greenish leather clothing and shoes. Tobias saw the knife the other one was hiding in his belt. “Which game you wanna play?”

  
“Texas”, the short answer came. Tobias nodded. He reached the deck to his counterpart to cut it. Most people just took a few cards only to get rid of the top cards to be sure not to get cheated. This was why Tobias was mildly surprised when the boy chose more than half of the deck.

  
“What is your name?”, Tobias asked instead of showing his surprise.

  
“That’s none of your damn business!”

  
Tobias simply shrugged his shoulders. He hadn’t anticipated an answer. The cards were given.

  
In the end of the first round none of them folded; there were two aces, two jacks and a nine of spades laying on the planks in front of them. Tobias hand was another ace and a queen. He really wanted to win this first round somehow… So he simply switched his queen with the fourth ace from a deck with the same back. He turned his cards confident of victory. “Four aces.”

  
“Cheater!”, the other boy exclamated, but he smiled and turned his cards too. They were showing four aces as well.

  
Tobias stared at the cards, bluffed. Four aces… twice. He might have found a worthy opponent for the first time in his life. He bursted out laughting. “Oh well played! Let’s play some games without cheats and tricks. Else we will never get a winner. My word of honor.”

  
“Without cheats”, the other one agreed and they sealed their pact by a handshake.

  
Tobias was sure that they would get along well.


	3. At Night in Noxus

It took several days until the ship arrived at the harbor of the first city near to Noxus. The pirates seemed to be glad about that as well and it wasn't even dark outside and night when the crew left the ship to visit some pubs. About this time they all might sit at a bar-tabel, banjaxed.

  
Both boys waited until it was night. Then they left their hiding place together. The only pirate they found while sneaking away was a poor man, damned to watch over the ship while everyone else was having a good time at a bar. This guard was sleeping soundly with a bottle of rum in his right hand. The stowaways left the ship without problems and without being seen. It was nice to have some solid ground under their feet after all this days and hours on the ship.

  
"Our ways will part here, I guess", said the other boy.

  
Tobias nodded. "You always meet twice in a lifetime and I promise I will find out your name next time."

  
The other one smiled. "Ok, see you." And then he turned away and walked into one of those dark harbor alleys.

  
This was the second time for Tobias to stand at the edge of some water with no clue where to go next.

  
In the following weeks, months and years Tobias travelled through Runeterra, perfectionating his skills and tricks as an independent cheater and thief. He earned not only the cold, which he needed to survive, he earned some angry foes, thirsty for revenge, because he took their gold and their secrets, as well as a thick bunch of police records.

  
No law enforcement officers could ever have catched him. The cheater vanished into thin air as soon as a situation got serious and was gone without a trail to track him down. A few times the police was lucky enough to throw him into a cell but he was always gone before the next morning, leaving nothing behind but a card, taunting the detectives.

  
In all this time he could never find an opponent, being worthy of playing against him.


	4. Thorned Shadows

The spotlights were focused on the center of the hall. All other sources of light where dimmed or turned off completely. Rows and rows of enchanted spectators were standing between white marmoreal pillars decorated with artful patterns.

  
Only one pair was dancing on the dance floor attracting the attention of really everyone around. The man had a rose captured between his teeth while he was whirling his partner around in spectacular moves. The lady was wearing a short, red dress and three red roses were decorating her dark hair. Her blue skin was building up a mystic contrast to the remindings of her appearance.

  
It wasn't a harmonic dance. You could see them fighting for dominance with every step they took. A tense atmosphere was filling the hall.

  
In the background some kind of elegant, erotic music was playing and supporting the show with some foreign instruments.

  
The couple was obviously enjoying the attention their audience was paying them. They earned several looks from their jealous male and envious female viewers as well.

  
Eventually the music was coming to a final climax as they were doing with their performance. He was supporting her with his arms while she leaned her upper body back and they held this pose until the final tone of the music faded away.

  
After the first seconds of silence the audience was awaking out of their enchantment. The following applause was deafening and it somehow managed to grow even louder when the dancer couple was sharing a heated kiss in front of everyone.

  
Shouts, asking for another dance were audible above the applause but the couple was already gone. They were gone as they always were and as they were infamous for: Without a tone, without a track, without a hint leaving a mystery behind.

 

~~~

 

  
“That was amazing nightshade. We should definitely do that again”, said the card shark when he stepped out of the shadows behind her.

  
Of course she knew that he was there. The shadows were her realm. That is why she didn’t look surprised in the slightest.

  
Evelynn didn’t turn around and she didn’t move when he hugged her from behind. It seemed like she was deep in thoughts.

  
“Something on your mind?”, he asked while slowly turning her around to face him.

  
She raised her head and looked him straight into his brown eyes. “It was a nice time”, the woman simply said.

  
He couldn’t hold her when she stepped away and vanished into thin air. Yet, she still had to be somewhere around.

  
“Evelynn”, he shouted as soon as he waked from his petrification. “Come back! ... Evelynn!”

  
But she never returned.


	5. It ain't Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please check out "Graves' Fate" by Ardoria. It tells this story from Graves POV but with some different events.

Tobias was sitting at a bar-table with a glass of whiskey in his right and a deck of cards in his left hand. He lost count on how many drinks he downed a long time ago. Not that he cared about it anyways.

His eyes were focused on the glass filled with the amber liquid. A second later the glass was drained as several drinks before. It was by no means of the best quality but the alcohol was getting it's job done. He was pretty drunk at this point of time.

After Evelynn left him behind he didn't exactly know what to do. He ended up at the bar table of the first bar his feet led him to drowning his mind in booze.

Some cards slid down the deck but he barely noticed it. Tobias raised his hand to order a new drink but then he suddenly heard a deep voice next to him. "You had enough, take yerself a room."

His eyes darted around to the person who dared to mind his business. The man looked familiar somehow. Tobias struggled to remember who he was but at his current mental state every effort was in vain. He growled frustrated. "That's none of your damn business!"

"And that is my line", the simple answer came.

Suddenly the card deck vanished from his hand and then his own purse appeared in front of his face. He unsuccessfully tried to catch it. An angry tone escaped him.

"Follow me", the stranger ordered. Tobias saw that he gave some signal to the bartender but he couldn't realise what it meant. "Ye owe me a game of cards, Sunshine."

Something in the back of his head agreed with that but he had no clue why. The hell with it. He could easily beat everyone at a game of cards and then he would get his peace and would be able to drown his sorrows in booze further. And that bastard still had his purse!

Tobias raised from his bar stool and struggled to stand but he managed with some effort. He followed the man with shaky steps to the rooms on the upper floor.

The man unlocked a door with a key, Tobias really had no clue when he got it.

"How 'bout that game now?", Tobias asked staggering into the room.

"Not now. Would be way to easy while you're that drunk!"

Tobias wanted to argue about that point but then he suddenly found himself in the bed. "The hell", he mumbled but he abruptly felt tired as hell, so he turned to the other side and fell asleep on an instant.

 

 

~~~

 

When Tobias finally awoke the room was way too bright for his taste, his head was aching and his throat was dry. Furthermore he had no clue where the fuck he was.

"So ye're finally back alive?"

Tobias eyes wandered to the person speaking to him. The man had dark hair, held back by a red bandana. His clothes had some greenish color. "I know you", he mumbled before he closed his eyes again and rubbed them. When he opened his eyes again he got a better look of the room. It definitely was an inn-room according to the furniture but he couldn't tell what inn he was in. Probably an inn somewhere near Demacia.

"It's been a long time...", the man said. "But you haven't changed that much."

"Neither have you", Tobias said while standing up. He poured himself a glass of water from a jar placed on the table. He downed it instantly. That headache was killing him. "But surely you remember my promise too?"

"That's why I asked you 'bout a game of cards yesterday." He laughed at Tobias questioning look. "Damn it, how much did ye drink? Don't ya remember?"

Tobias tried to remember but miserably failed. "I really have no clue!" He settled himself at the table and wanted to pull out his cards to shuffle them but he couldn't find them. "The hell...?"

The man moved to the table as well and took seat on the opposite side. He let Tobias' purse and his cards drop on the table. "My argument yesterday to get ye here", he explained shortly.

"You wanna play Texas I reckon?", he asked and the other man confirmed it with a simple nod. "Simple rules: No tricks and cheats. And due to the fact that I have to fulfill my promise the looser has to reveal his name."

"There we got a deal."

 

 

~~~

 

  
It took a few rounds until one of them folded his hand but when they revealed their hand in the final showdown both got a full house. However, Tobias had the higher one. He looked expectant at the man.

"I won, now it's your turn."

And after a short moment of hesitation Tobias finally got his answer. "It's Malcolm Graves."

"Nice name", Tobias said smiling.

"And your name, Sunshine?"

"Wasn't part of the deal!" His smile grew even brighter.

"Bastard", grumbled Graves but he didn't push it further. Deal was deal.

"There is something I'm curious about for years now", Tobias started. "Which cards you had back then? I had a queen and an ace."

"Ace and jack", answered Graves.

_Would've been his win if they haven't cheated._

In the following hours they talked about the years that passed since the last time they met. Evelynn was long forgotten by now. Eventually Tobias got an idea.

"Malcolm, just think about the things we could achieve if we worked together. No gold in Valoran would be safe from us!"

It seemed like Graves was thinking about that proposal. Finally he smiled. "Great idea! Partners?"

"Partners!", confirmed Tobias.

 


End file.
